Zenza Bronica S2a, bellows and macro/enlarging/process lens

[DC Lohenstein]

Hello, everyone,

for some time now I have been thinking about how to mount a good lens for macro photography, e.g. Apo-Ronar, Apo-Gerogon, G-Claron, Rodagon, Componon or an EL-Nikkor, on my Bronica S2a. I use the big bellows with shift, swing and tilt. The bellows has a M57 female thread to which you could connect a male M57 lens board for Copal 0, Copal 1 or M39. Are there any such lens boards for sale somewhere? Or is there an adapter from Zenza Bronica?

Best regards, stay healthy

 

[glbeas]

Have you checked step rings for filters to see if theres anything compatible?

 

[DC Lohenstein]

Yes, there is M58, M55 ... but no M57! There are some Borg adapters (telescope accessory), but they don't have a smaller female threads for M39 or Copal 0 or Copal 1.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. Lens boards are typically flat, most -- let's not forget Fatif -- are square.

If I were you I'd probably discuss the problem with skgrimes.com. Not so practical for you 'cos you're in Switzerland.

The Dau brothers, who own skgrimes, are inventive, have come up with better solutions than the ones I've proposed to them. But I still propose when I want them to make something. I'd propose attaching a 2x3 Pacemaker Graphic front standard to a plate to a tube threaded M57x1 at the rear. And then I'd mount the lens in barrel or shutter of choice to a 2x3 Pacemaker Speed board.

I'd sacrifice a front standard -- I have one or two spares, haven't checked in a while -- to save the expense of them making the equivalent. And I'd use that front standard anyway 'cos they're not that hard to find and aren't that expensive. I like 2x3 Pacemaker boards because they're not that hard to find and are inexpensive. I'd separate the lens board from the adapter rather than have a cup made to fit just one size of shutter so I could use more than one size of lens or shutter.

I'd also look into the possibility of finding a dud normal lens or a TC for the S2/S2A/EC/ECTL, removing the cells and gluing a lens board to the front of the tube. Might be less trouble and less expensive than my first suggestion.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

When I had that system I had some custom threaded and even bayonet adapters made by SK Grimes and Frank Marshman for various kinds of adaptations (Bronica S2 bayonet to Canon FD bayonet for macro lenses, M57 to M39 for enlarging lenses, barrel adapter for a 500mm Tele-Arton to the Komura tele focusing helical). The system lends itself to that. You just want to find a capable machinist who will work with you.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I picked up an adapter off of ebay I think it was. Someone in Russia. I think it was a Copal 1. Only cost like 27 bucks i think.

 

[itsdoable]

57mm rings are available.

This is a ~$10 adapter from that auction site:

Here it is on a stack for use on a S2a

My 120mm Rodenstock Imagon lens block threads directly to the 40mm ring, and the C-C Bronica extension tube (57mm thread) give the correct spacing for this lens. You can use any combination of extension rings and 55mm reducers to attach other lenses - for instance the 55-40mm adapter can be filed larger to accept a Copal #1 shutter

The S2 - EC Bronicas with the 57mm theaded helical focus units are ideal for adapting assorted lenses to this format.
.

 

[DC Lohenstein]

Wow! This is exactly what I am looking for! Thank you very much! Normally the mirror flap of the s2a is quite soft - I don't necessarily need mirror lock-up, as far as I found out, which is not available with the s2a anyway. But: a central lock-up would be even softer I presume ...

 

[DC Lohenstein]

PS. https://web.archive.org/web/20051212091914/medfmt.8k.com/bronadap.html showed some possibilities. I drilled a hole in a front cap, then glued a Nikon bayonet from an old F801 to the cap, with hot glue, and now i can use the beloved Micro-Nikkor 3.5/55 and the Micro-Nikkor 4/105 on the S2a. The flange to film distance is about 100mm anyway, so I will have about 56mm extension in the beam path from the beginning. I think, that with this minimum extension, the two 35mm lenses should also illuminate the 6x6 format ... Now I'm going to look for a blowball and then I'll try the combination.

 

[Wolfgang Kraus]

Rafcamera (https://rafcamera.com/adapters/for-cameras/for-medium-format?cat=322) has six adapters made for the M57x1 thread. I just got an M42 one from them to mount bellows and enlarger lenses on my S2, using an additional M39 adapter. The adapter is fine and their service was great.